Bulgaria's government

Bulgaria's government on Wednesday gave the green light to Antigua and Barbuda to open a honorary consulate in Sofia.

Law professor Ivan Todorov will act as honorary consul of the Carribean island nation.

Bulgaria's government has proposed to parliament to ratify the agreement with Norway to avoid double taxation of income.

The agreement was signed in July of last year to update the regulation framework governing the bilateral economic relations, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday.

Bulgaria's government has adopted a decree confirming the minimum wage rate of BGN 360 as of January 1, 2016 and the planned hike to BGN 380 as of July 1, 2016.

The decree comes in response to the motives presented in the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) from May 20.

Bulgaria's government approved operational program Environment 2014-2020 on Wednesday, according to Environment Minister Ivelina Vasileva.

The program is now to be approved by the European Commission.

Vasileva, as cited by the BGNES news agency, made clear that the budget of the operational program stood at BGN 3.5 B.

Yordan Bakalov, former MP of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces and former caretaker Interior Minister, will be appointed head of the Defense Information Service unit, according to Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev.

During a visit to Mongolia Nenchev told journalists that Bakalov's nomination would be approved by the government next week, according to reports of Sega daily.

Bulgaria's government is calling for a "quick, transparent and full" investigation into Saturday's events in Kumanovo, Macedonia in which police officers were killed.

Apart from at least 6 dead police officers, other 29 were wounded in a shootout with gunmen which reportedly surrendered late in the evening.

Bulgaria's government has created five working groups to manage the preparation for the Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018.

The Consultative Council for National Security has recommended to Bulgaria's government to introduce a program that will help the country's armed forces meet NATO requirements, President Rosen Plevneliev has said.

Bulgaria's government should allocate more money to defense, President Rosen Plevneliev's Defense and Security Secretary Atanas Samandov has said.

He told daily Pressa that several projects could be developed to boost the military industry, citing the example of prospective cooperation with US companies on armored personnel carriers.

Bulgaria will raise minimum wage in 2016 and in 2017, but will freeze it the year after, according to a medium-term budget forecast of Bulgaria's government approved on Wednesday.

The government estimates that next year the national minimum wage will increase by BGN 60 (EUR 30) to BGN 420 (EUR 210), up from BGN 360 (EUR 180) as of the moment (April 22, 2014).